Before They Were Stars: The Miz on “The Real World”

I feel so dirty posting a clip on The Back Row from The Real World, the show that launched the evil which we know as reality TV, but I have to concede that they made a huge contribution to the world of pro wrestling. Last night, I watched Wrestlemania XXVII and defending the WWE title in the main event was none other than Mike “The Miz” Mizanin, a guy who got his start as a cast member on the tenth season of The Real World. Initially, he was just a regular, down-to-earth dude named “Mike” on the show, but eventually, he developed an angry, obnoxious persona and started calling himself “The Miz”, which would be the character that would lead him into the world of wrestling. When he first made it to WWE, I have to confess that I always felt like strangling him with my own shoelaces whenever he was onscreen (and I pretty much felt the same way while watching this Real World clip), but the guy eventually started to grow on me and he’s firmly established himself as one of the biggest superstars in the wrestling business right now. It’s amazing to think that the dorky guy in the backwards hat from this clip is a future WWE champion and Wrestlemania main eventer.